One less lonely man
by Prettylildevil
Summary: Eric has been gone from Impact for a while now. Not only did he lose his job but also his family and what few friends he did have. A surprise call may just change all of that though.


Ok so I haven't written in a while so this one's probably not going to be one of my best stories. Still I have watched some old episodes of TNA or IMPACT wrestling as they now call it. Plus I was a fan of Eric's when he was there so I thought I'd write a piece about him. Now let's see how many of you can guess who the other man is before the end, shall we.

* * *

Eric Bischoff's whole life had been wrestling. That was up until he had lost to his son Garrett back at Lockdown, after that he had had nothing. Of course losing meant that he had to leave Impact and never use the Bischoff name again. But besides that his wife and daughter had not been thrilled about the father versus son match and so he was kicked out of the house. His whole life fell apart.

That was months ago and it had gotten better per say. He had started to rent another smaller house in Cody, close enough to where no one was suspicious of his and Loree's secret divorce. They kept it under wraps even still wearing their wedding bands in public. Once a week Eric would even go over and eat dinner with her just to give the appearance of a normal happy but distant marriage. A difference even bigger than the divorce, which Bischoff had been through before, was being out of the wrestling business. Sure he had been "out" of it before but this time it felt different. It felt like he as if he was really surely out of it, for good.

Now Eric spent his on the TV shows he produced and on starting his long dreamed of Beer Company back home in Detroit. Even with those two very demanding jobs Eric still felt alone with his family now not wanting a thing to do with him he turned to his friends, only to find that he really didn't have any.

Back when he was in TNA he hadn't had that many either but he still had some. Bully Ray, Ric Flair and the others were there when he got lonely but now they were busy. Eric tried to shake the feeling off, he went to bars and tried to find people however it wasn't like he could find anyone who would talk to him other than wrestling fans and even then most of them did not want a friendly chat. So Eric started just to stay in his new small little home. He tried to stay busy but without a social life being busy was becoming harder to do. Work could only take up so much of his time even if he started early, worked late and weekends.

One day when Eric was trying to balance his books (for the fourth time that week) he got a call from a number he didn't know. Being that the only calls he usual got were either from people he worked with or his estranged family from time to time he thought about just ignoring it. However on the third ring the empty feeling that had sat in his stomach for months forced him to answer it.

As soon as he did he regretted it. The voice which answered his rushed "Hello" was too familiar for his liking. "Eric?" It was fast and had stained his last night in Impact wrestling. After a moment of silence Eric gritted his teeth and asked "Why the hell are you calling me?" He could hear the younger man on the other end of the line take a deep breath before mumbling "I-I just thought I'd tell you…." The voice trailed off.

"Tell me what?" Eric snapped as he paced his new home office, looking out of the window right above his desk. The other man swallowed and then quickly answered "I'm-I'm sorry foreverythingok… Eric." A smile started to form on Bischoff's face but it quickly changed into a frown as he remembered just who he was talking to. When he did his whole body tensed a bit. _This ungrateful moron was trying to be "the bigger man."_

Looking down at his bare feet Eric say "Thanks for that, I mean really that means a lot, especially coming from you."

"Whatever Eric" the younger man snapped back at him. The line went silent again for a second. Both men were slightly taken back by the other even though they had known each other for years. "What do you want?" Eric finally ended the silent and was quickly answered with a slightly mumbled "To be forgiven."

"After what you did?"

"Listen I say I was sorry"

"Yeah months later, my damn idiot son apologized before you did."

"He apologized?"

"Yeah but he still won't have a damn thing to do with me!" Eric heard the words fall out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"What?"

"Nothing! Just leave me alone"

Eric heard a snort and then "Seems like everyone else already had."

He could feel anger building up inside him before he heard himself say "Well maybe they have!"

For a third time there as absolute silent, Eric heard a car rush by outside his house but nothing more. The anger in his body almost immediately subsided leaving just the ever-deepening feeling he had grown accustom to in past months.

"Nobody?"

"well…" It was Eric's voice that trailed off this time.

"W-what about your wife? Your daughter?"

"We got divorced and they both won't have anything to do with me anymore. " Eric confessed.

"What about Garrett?"

"Oh yeah right."

"Listen I'm-I'm sorry" the younger man repeated what he had said before. However this time Eric didn't say anything. He sat down in his black desk chair and leaned back. With his eyes closed he answered "Thanks, Thanks a lot."

Again silent but this time it felt different not filled with anger like before.

A few more cars passed by the widow as Eric looked out it, his cell phone still glued to his ear. He heard the other man take a deep breath once more and then the sound of a lighter being used. With his eyes closed again Eric ran his free hand through his messy gray hair. It was in need of a good washing since he hadn't showered that morning or the one before that.

He opened his eyes once more "Hey when are you guys coming here?"

"Huh?"

"TNA, when is the tour in Wyoming?"

"Um" Eric could hear papers being shuffled "Next month, I think."

"Well do you think we could get a drink when you're in town then?"

The sound of someone puffing a cigarette was all Eric could hear on the other end of the line for a minute. It felt much longer to him though before finally getting the answer he was surprising happy to get "Yes."

"Great, see ya then."

The other man stalled for a moment before saying "Yeah see ya then Eric. Bye" after that he hung up.

"Good-Bye, JB."

* * *

Did you guess it? I know it's weird but the two do have a lot of history.

I was thinking of doing a sequel, do you think I should?

Please review, I'd really like to hear some feedback about this one. :)


End file.
